R
rajan
Guest
Nowadays all ministers, bureaucrats and academicians talk about Solar
energy as if it is available free to be scooped up with out knowing
the intricacies or problems involved in it.
It is not just keeping solar cells in the sun and develop current and
use it. No. Sorry. There are so many steps involved in this. First and
foremost the solar cell or panel is to be procured to satisfy any
particular requirement. So when somebody wants to develop power of
considerable quantity he should develop a solar energy farm which will
cover a very big area with rows and rows of solar panels with
automatic maneuvering gears and motors to track the sun from east to
west so that sun's maximum light energy is covered and collected . The
panels are also quite expensive and economical power out put has to
wait for some more time.
Once the panels generate the emf (electro motive force : Voltage) and
corresponding current, it will have to be regulated electronically to
maintain the voltage to be constant since the voltage from the panel
will vary with the load connected with it. So the regulators does the
job of stabilizing the voltage constant. Then the regulator charges a
bank of batteries when the sun's light is available. Simultaneously
the batteries can supply power to an Inverter, which converts or
rather inverts the DC voltage of the battery into AC voltage of 230V
ac or 110 V AC as per the requirements.
Once the Inverter Output is available then it can power all the
electrical appliance connected to it and finally power is generated.
Here the heart of the total system is the solar panel which has to be
protected from dust, water and adverse environments as they are kept
in the open fields. So proper maintenance of the panels are to be
taken care off.
The batteries are to be charged by the panels and have to be kept near
the panels itself since long cables will have heavy DC voltage drops
and hence the voltage reaching the batteries will be much less than
that required to charge them. Hence the chargers and batteries have to
kept near the panels in enclosures protected against environment
degradation. Batteries have to be monitored properly and normally
stationary batteries are used with high AH (Ampere Hour) capacity.
The batteries have to be maintained by
1. proper cleaning the terminals and coating them with Vaseline.
2. checking the level of the distilled water and topping them
regularly.
3. Measuring the gravity of the electrolyte regularly.
4. Finding and removing the defective batteries and replacing them
with new ones.
The Inverter for this energy farm will be a high capacity one and one
or more of them connected parallel will be generating the requisite
power as per the demand. So the inverters have to be maintained
properly and one or more may be kept idle so that they can replace the
ones which may become defective.
There are some problems which the farm will have to face. The problems
are
1.No power generated directly from the panels in the night and only
battery can support . But if the batteries run out or discharge there
will not be any power.
2.Even during day time the suns intensity will vary if the sky is over
cast or on rainy days.
These are all the facts many have to understand before solar plants
are being discussed .
energy as if it is available free to be scooped up with out knowing
the intricacies or problems involved in it.
It is not just keeping solar cells in the sun and develop current and
use it. No. Sorry. There are so many steps involved in this. First and
foremost the solar cell or panel is to be procured to satisfy any
particular requirement. So when somebody wants to develop power of
considerable quantity he should develop a solar energy farm which will
cover a very big area with rows and rows of solar panels with
automatic maneuvering gears and motors to track the sun from east to
west so that sun's maximum light energy is covered and collected . The
panels are also quite expensive and economical power out put has to
wait for some more time.
Once the panels generate the emf (electro motive force : Voltage) and
corresponding current, it will have to be regulated electronically to
maintain the voltage to be constant since the voltage from the panel
will vary with the load connected with it. So the regulators does the
job of stabilizing the voltage constant. Then the regulator charges a
bank of batteries when the sun's light is available. Simultaneously
the batteries can supply power to an Inverter, which converts or
rather inverts the DC voltage of the battery into AC voltage of 230V
ac or 110 V AC as per the requirements.
Once the Inverter Output is available then it can power all the
electrical appliance connected to it and finally power is generated.
Here the heart of the total system is the solar panel which has to be
protected from dust, water and adverse environments as they are kept
in the open fields. So proper maintenance of the panels are to be
taken care off.
The batteries are to be charged by the panels and have to be kept near
the panels itself since long cables will have heavy DC voltage drops
and hence the voltage reaching the batteries will be much less than
that required to charge them. Hence the chargers and batteries have to
kept near the panels in enclosures protected against environment
degradation. Batteries have to be monitored properly and normally
stationary batteries are used with high AH (Ampere Hour) capacity.
The batteries have to be maintained by
1. proper cleaning the terminals and coating them with Vaseline.
2. checking the level of the distilled water and topping them
regularly.
3. Measuring the gravity of the electrolyte regularly.
4. Finding and removing the defective batteries and replacing them
with new ones.
The Inverter for this energy farm will be a high capacity one and one
or more of them connected parallel will be generating the requisite
power as per the demand. So the inverters have to be maintained
properly and one or more may be kept idle so that they can replace the
ones which may become defective.
There are some problems which the farm will have to face. The problems
are
1.No power generated directly from the panels in the night and only
battery can support . But if the batteries run out or discharge there
will not be any power.
2.Even during day time the suns intensity will vary if the sky is over
cast or on rainy days.
These are all the facts many have to understand before solar plants
are being discussed .